This is a New York Times Opinion piece written by “Kate Manne, an associate professor of philosophy at Cornell and the author of a forthcoming book on fatphobia.”
Clearly written by someone who doesn’t know Food Noise, food screaming, or, as I call it, the constant low hum that pervades every waking thought I’ve had during all of my 62 years, except for a couple of specific times; while taking Fen-Phen, Topamax, and for a year or so after the RNY Gastric Bypass.
I started laughing at her complete ignorance of the phenomenon halfway through the piece.
“…food noise is what may happen when you’re not eating enough to satisfy your appetite, often under the pressures of diet culture — a culture to which drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy contribute, by normalizing restrictive eating and pathologizing hunger.”
Yeah, at 405 pounds (and 5’1″), waking up in the middle of the night to pee and being implored to search for food meant I needed to “satisfy my appetite.” After eating two complete meals from Uber Eats and not having any full feeling whatsoever and my mind still humming with wherecanIgetmorefoodshouldIordermorewhereismycandyhiddenIwonderwhenIcaneat
insecretsonooneknowswhatI’mdoing.
Yeah, that’s because I wasn’t eating enough to satisfy my appetite… and of course, “under the pressures of diet culture,” it was mere societal manipulation right?
Is This An Eating Disorder?
And lest anyone try and diagnose me with an eating disorder, if there is one, it is called the Disease of Obesity. I’ve been in therapy for 40+ years trying to decipher what the hell is wrong that I have to live so fat and keep getting fatter. 20 therapists and psychiatrists validated that I did not have an eating disorder. It was, and is, a biochemical disorder.
Continuing On
Ms. Manne continues, “Before 2022, there was barely a whisper about it.”
Not true. I have written about it extensively since 2007. I was in Gastric Bypass forums on Usenet in 1999-2007 and in email lists during that same time and it was a common topic of conversation. (I find it amusing she would use the word “whisper,” too.) Just because you didn’t see it or hear about it until now doesn’t mean the fat community wasn’t yacking… LOUDLY… about it.
“Coined to name the experience of thinking about food, longing for food, planning our next meal and so on, ‘food noise’ is a slick rebrand of some of the most basic human drives: hunger, appetite, craving. But now these are being framed as bugs, rather than features. We should resist this reframing.”
No, We Shouldn’t
I could go on and on correcting her utter misconceptions, including romanticizing eating and glorifying food. Believe me, I have eaten enough and reviewed enough food as a food writer to not ever consider missing eating. I encourage you to read the article and then read my two posts:
GLP-1 Crushes Food Noise and Those Voices That Command Us to Eat
I sincerely hope she stops by for a visit to listen to someone who knows better, and much more, than she does.
Good try, Ms. Manne, but you are 100% incorrect.
all photos by Barb Herrera